DONGSHIGU VILLAGE, China (AP) — Heavy security surrounded the rural home of a blind, self-taught activist attorney to be released from a Chinese prison today after a four-year sentence that supporters say stemmed from his work documenting forced abortions and other abuses.

Chen Guangcheng, 39, is a charismatic, inspirational figure for civil liberties attorneys who have fought to enforce the rights that are enshrined in China’s constitution but are often breached by the authoritarian government and police. Chen’s harassment and then imprisonment in 2006 after documenting forced abortions around his hometown marked the start of a government crackdown on activist attorneys.

Chen was scheduled to be freed from Linyi City prison.

Five men in plainclothes blocked the road into Chen’s village with a van, and six more came running after journalists who tried to enter the community surrounded by cornfields. The journalists scuffled briefly with the men, who then jumped into their van and chased the journalists’ car at high speed as they tried to leave the area.

Attempts to contact prison officials or local authorities for comment were unsuccessful.

Chen’s wife, Yuan Weijing, had said Wednesday that she planned to meet him at the prison, along with their two young children and his brother. But she was unsure whether she would be permitted to do that, because of the heavy security presence around their home.

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